Society for the Scientific Study of Reading
SSSR Newsletter, September 2002

This edition of the SSSR Newsletter contains information about the Call for Papers for the 2003 meeting, a look back at the 2002 meetings, and additional information about SSSR, including the SSSR officers and new voting members.

The 2002 Meeting in Chicago

SSSR held its 2002 meeting in Chicago on June 27-30. The Palmer House Hotel was the perfect venue, located near....

Lake Michigan,	the Taste of Chicago in Grant Park,
and the Art Institute…………………………..	but, is it art?

The scientific program was particularly impressive. It was held in conjunction with the meeting of the Society for Text and Discourse, skillfully coordinated by Joanna Williams and Susan Goldman. The SSSR program included 75 posters, 66 papers, and three excellent joint symposia with the Society for Text and Discourse. Keith Stanovich gave a terrific presentation for his Distinguished Scientific Contributions award, and we were delighted to hear that this year’s award went to Linnea Ehri, who will present in 2004.

A special thanks to Joanna Williams and Dolores Perrin for organizing a great conference. Special thanks also to Darlene Beeman for her expert management of SSSR through the year and for her help with registration at the Chicago meeting.

2003 Meeting

In 2003, SSSR will meet in Toronto, June 12-15, at the Toronto Marriott Eaton Center Hotel, beginning Thursday afternoon, and ending Sunday about noon. See the Call for Papers on the Society Home Page http://www.ed.utah.edu/edst/sssr/ for more details. Remember that the deadline for submissions is November 8, 2002. We are grateful to Pat Bowers and Alexandra Gottardo for agreeing to serve as Conference co-coordinators with Joanna Williams for the Toronto meeting.

Membership in SSSR

To join SSSR, please return to the SSSR Web Page (http://www.ed.utah.edu/edst/sssr) and follow the procedures there, downloading a form for membership. Membership in the Society includes a subscription to the Society's Journal, Scientific Studies of Reading, published by Lawrence Erlbaum.

Voting Membership

At its meeting in Chicago, the Board approved 12 new voting members. They are Linda Baker, University of Maryland; James Booth, Northwestern University; Marketa Caravolas, University of Liverpool; Mary Ann Evans, University of Guelph; Janice Keenan, University of Denver; Jack Mostow, Carnegie Mellon University; Kate Nation, University of York; Joseph Shimron, University of Haifa; Ron Stringer, McGill University; Min Wang, University of Pittsburgh, Nell K. Duke, Michigan State University; Elena Grigorenko, Yale University; Dominiek Sandra, University of Antwerp. Congratulations to all!

The Board strongly encourages current Active members to examine the criteria for Voting membership and apply for consideration at the 2003 Board meeting. The criteria and Voting membership forms can be found at the bottom of the Conference page on the SSSR home page.

SSR--the Society's Journal

Frank Manis is starting his second year as editor of Scientific Studies of Reading, succeeding Joanna Williams, who guided the journal from its inception. Frank is now receiving manuscripts at this address: Psychology Department, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-1061. Frank reported at the Board meeting that submissions are keeping pace with previous years, the rejection rate is about 60%, and the publication lag is about one year. The Journal made a profit of $1700 in 2001. Of special note is the following quote from Michael Presley regarding Scientific Studies of Reading, relayed from Benita Blachman:

I thought the Board might enjoy reading the comments about Scientific Studies of Reading from Mike Pressley's Introduction to the second edition of his book, Reading Instruction that Works (2002):

"One of the most important developments since I wrote the previous edition was the enormous success of a new journal, Scientific Studies of Reading. Joanna Williams's editorship of its first 5 years resulted in a journal that consistently informs about important new developments in reading that have been studied well by capable scientists. I found myself spending more time with this journal than any other (except one) during the past few years. The one exception is the Journal of Educational Psychology, which I edited from 1997 to 2002."

Clearly, members of SSSR and other researchers in the field of reading should be encouraged to publish their work in Scientific Studies of Reading.

SSSR Financial Situation

Don Compton (Treasurer), was pleased to announce at the Board meeting that there is about $30,000 in the SSSR account that will carry over into 2003. It is safely invested in Enron stock (just kidding). In addition to maintaining a strong reserve, the Board voted to increase support for our manager, web slicer, and for the Journal.

Of special note is an anonymous contribution to SSSR this summer of $3,000. We are all grateful to our benefactor for this generous gift.

SSSR Board

The composition of the SSSR Board is as follows: President, Richard Olson; President-elect, Joanna Williams; Vice-President, Pieter Reitsma; Past-President Chuck Perfetti; Secretary, Lesly Wade-Wooley; Treasurer, Don Compton; Historian, Anne Cunningham; International Coordinator, Victor van Daal; Publications Chair, Hollis Scarborough. Elected Board Members are Marilyn Adams, Benita Blachman, and Hugh Catts.

Newsletter prepared by Dick Olson